Blood, Toil, Sweat, & Tears
by hatefully
Summary: [ oneshot ] i looked for you! [ c'mon, sora pull it together ] i looked everywhere for you! [ sora x riku ]


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**B L O OD, T O I L, S W E A T, & T E A R S**

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part**1** ..._reunion_...

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**B**eads of sweat poured down Sora's forehead as he fought Xigbar. He nearly doubled over, gasping for air as he narrowly dodged a round of shots fired by the Organization Member. Sora quickly deflected the oncoming shots, making them fly back towards the shooter, momentarily stunning him. Sora quickly took this moment as an opportunity and quickly lunged at the stunned man. Luckily, Xigbar didn't have enough time to react when Sora unleashed a cluster of powerful combos. After Sora had released all of what seemed to be his remaining strength, he slowly limped over to Xigbar, who was on the floor gasping for his last bits of air; Sora poised his keyblade at his throat. Xigbar simply looked up at Sora, "Sneaky little runt…" He smirked weakly before disappearing into the dark depths of nothingness; Sora turned his back on him. Donald and Goofy lowered their heads to the ground as a tribute to his death, it was the least they could do. "Let's go." Sora commanded wiping a droplet of blood from his chin before rushing out through the exquisite doorways into the next room, Donald and Goofy hurrying behind him. 

_x**x**x_

**S**ora quickly dashed up the series of stairs, quickly defeating every Nobody in his way with a single swipe, leaving Donald and Goofy lagging behind him. He felt his adrenaline kick in, he was so close, he could feel her warm presence right through the doors! He quickly barged through the doors, shocked at the sight before him; gasped. Kairi was astonishingly fighting the heartless with a—keyblade? The three of them watched as Kairi finished off the last of the heartless; Donald stepped foreword, "Kairi, you were great!" He exclaimed earning himself a shocked gasp from her, "Oh!" She cried, turning around giggling when she laid eyes upon Sora. Donald and Goofy cocked a brow when she flicked her hair out of her face and smiled oddly at Sora.

**K**airi hesitantly stepped forward, her actions in synch with Sora. After a few steps, she was face to face with Sora. Chewing on her bottom lip, she wondered what to say—what to do. But luckily for her, Sora broke the silence. "You are different, Kairi but I'm just glad you're hear!" he said, his smile a wide as ever. He hadn't changed. Kairi summoned up courage to say something, anything. "You and Riku never came home, so I came looking for you." She said bashfully, looking down at the ground where he shoes really seemed interesting at the moment. She bashfully looked up to see that Sora had a frown on his face, guilt in his eyes. "I'm sorry." He said, turning his head away to hide his guilt. Kairi frowned; she hadn't meant to do that. She needed to fix what she had done; quickly she ran up to him and threw her arms around him tightly. Afraid to let go because what if—what if this was just another illusion?

**S**ora looked down at the auburn haired girl in his arm, hardly believing this was real. In truth, he had dreamt about this moment for years, but never was he actually expecting it. He felt his heart flutter when she had uttered, "This is real…" burying her face further into the crook of his neck. Sora hesitantly wrapped his arms around her, unsure what to do. He was just a simple teenage boy, aside from the fact he saved the world, he still had no clue what to do in these types of situations. He felt a brush creep across his face when he heard Donald and Goofy giggling the background.

**R**iku watched as his former best friends hugged. He felt an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach was it—jealousy? He disregarded it as he used the power of darkness to open a portal. He stopped when he heard Sora's voice cry out to him. "Wait, Ansem!" He had cried. Riku smirked, but felt his heart hurt; so he thought he was Ansem? He didn't turn around, but halted to hear what he had to say—this should be amusing. Sora must've noticed something was wrong with Riku when he had stopped, or frowned because of his words. "I mean, Xehanort's Heartless…I never thought for a second that I'd ever YOU again. Just thinking about all the things you did makes me really mad." He hesitated, trying to find the right words, "But…But you saved Kairi, right? I have to be grateful for that…" He stopped before smiling at him, "Thanks." Riku turned around and smirked; same old Sora. He needed to leave; he wasn't supposed to reveal his identity—not yet. He set foot in the portal before he felt someone grab hold of his hand. He looked down to see it was Kairi; of course. "Riku!" She had cried.

**S**ora looked at Kairi as if she was mad. Apparently Donald and Goofy thought so too, "Huh?" cried Goofy as he and Donald started babbling senselessly. "Kairi, what did you say?" he shouted, this was just crazy! There was no way that man could be Riku! He looked absolutely god smacked when Kairi just merely replied, "Ri-ku." As if he slow. He watched as "Riku" tried to shake Kairi off but couldn't, "I'm no one—just a castaway from the darkness." He said bitterly, a hint of sadness in his voice. Sora frowned, Riku or not—he hadn't meant to hurt his feelings. Kairi snapped him out of his guilt trip, "Sora, come here. Say something to him." She had called, and slowly he came walking over; unaware as to what to do. He felt himself blush when Kairi grabbed his hand. Sora had opened his mouth to speak but she had stopped him; "Here." She said smiling, "You'll understand." Sora looked at her oddly; what on earth was she doing? Apparently "Riku" had thought the same for they both looked at her oddly. She took Sora's hand and placed it upon "Riku"'s, immediately sending a wonderful sensation through them both. Sora and "Riku" both looked at her at the same time, "Close your eyes." She said, and he did.

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**W**hen Sora had reopened his eyes, he was completely surrounded in darkness. He looked around in panic and saw that "Riku" and Kairi were both surrounded by a pure, white light. He saw that they were still all holding hands; he looked down at Kairi's hand and followed her arm to see that she was smiling warmly at the two of them. He looked back at the gloved hand and traced it to see that it belonged to—Riku! It was really him! Sora couldn't believe his eyes; there he was—him and his silver colored hair that had now reached his shoulder blades, his cyan colored eyes bright with life, and—he was smiling warmly at him. Sora opened his eyes, to see that it was now Ansem smiling at him.

**S**ora felt all sorts of emotions overwhelm him at this moment. He looked up at Riku with saddened eyes before throwing his arms around his waist, burying his face into his chest. "Riku… It's Riku. Riku's here…" He mumbled burying his face deeper into his chest. Sora didn't even realize that Riku had turned to face him because he was too caught up from keeping the tears in his eyes from falling. Sora looked up, tears streaming down his face, "I looked for you!" he cried, unable to hold in the tears any longer. He nearly choked on a sob when Riku had said, "C'mon, Sora. You've got to pull it together." Sora shook his head; the tears still fell. "I looked everywhere for you!" "I didn't want you to find me." Riku had said; Sora looked at him in shock.

**W**hilst watching the scene before them, Donald and Goofy pondered. Goofy placed a glove hand to his chin, stroking it in thought. "But it was him that was helpin' us, wasn't it?" he said to Donald who merely replied with a dim, "Huh?" Goofy then tried to explain to Donald, and the others who were eavesdropping, "Those clues we kept finding. That musta been Riku." He said sensibly.

**R**iku smiled, "I was starting to worry you guys weren't ever gonna catch on." He paused unsure of what to say, "Sora never did pick the brightest friends." He chuckled softly, completely oblivious that Sora had removed himself from his waist as he chuckled more when he saw that he had infuriated Donald, "What do you mean by that?" He had shouted enraged. Riku was about to say more when Sora had interrupted him. "Why didn't you let me know that you were okay?" He cried, placing his hand to his heart. Riku frowned, "I told you. I didn't want to be found. Not like this…" He uttered softly, glancing at his hands in disgust. "I couldn't. I fought with Ansem. With…Xehanort's Heartless—when it invaded my heart, and I won. But to use the power of darkness, I had to become Ansem myself." He said a look of disgust on his face, but his eyes were full of sadness.

**S**ora frowned; he didn't know that—that his friend had endured so much on his own. "Does that mean…you can't change back?" Kairi had asked softly. Riku had smiled at her innocence, "This battle isn't over. And until it is I still need the power of darkness." He had said. Sora used the back of his hand to wipe the remaining tears in his eyes, "Then…let's finish it. You're still Riku, no matter what!" he exclaimed, hoping to bring everyone's hopes up. He looked around to see Donald, Goofy, and Kairi smiling at him; they were with him all the way. "So how about it?" He said turning to Donald and Goofy. "Think we can handle one last rumble together? The King's waiting!" he shouted pumping his fist into the air with Donald and Goofy. "Yeah! Let's get going!" Donald cried him and Goofy rushing out of the doorway. Sora turned to face Riku and Kairi, walking up to them throwing his arm around Kairi's shoulder and Riku's waist—he was too tall for him—he grinned cheekily at them, "Let's go! It's just like old times!" He grinned, Kairi smiled, and Riku smirked. As they walked together, arms still around each other none of them happened to catch Riku's words.

**" yeah, just like o l d - t i m e s . "**

—**o w a r i**—

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Kingdom Hearts **©** Square-Enix & Disney. 


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